November 13, 2014 by sdc

posted August 17, 2004

On August 12th, 2004, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced the appointment of Ted Kooser to be the 13th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. He will take up his duties in the fall, opening the Library’s annual literary series on Oct. 7 with a reading of his work. Kooser will also be a featured speaker at the Library of Congress National Book Festival poetry pavilion on Saturday, October 9, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

On making the appointment, Billington said, “Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first Poet Laureate chosen from the Great Plains. His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."

Kooser, the author of ten collections of poetry, most recently Delights & Shadows (2004), was born in Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Iowa State University in 1962 and his master’s degree at the University of Nebraska in 1968. Kooser is the former vice-president of Lincoln Benefit Life, an insurance company in Lincoln, NE, and currently lives on an acreage near the village of Garland, NE, with his wife, Lincoln Journal Star editor Kathleen Rutledge.

Beginning in January 2005 (and continuing through June 2005), information kiosks will be on display at various branches of the Lincoln City Libraries to celebrate Kooser's era as Poet Laureate. You can find more information about these kiosks and their schedule of appearances at this page.
The links in this section of this list will take you directly into the items' entries in the catalog of the Lincoln City Libraries, where you can check on the items' availability throughout the library system.

The following databases and/or webliographies on the Lincoln City Libraries site can be used to access numerous articles and/or links to additional resources on-line. [If you have difficulty using these databases, please contact the Reference Department at 441-8530 for assistance.]

November 27, 2012 by sdc

posted January 25, 2005

Generations of American television viewers were caught by surprise on Sunday, January 23, 2005, to learn that Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night" had passed away at his home in Malibu, California. The cause of death was emphysema. For three decades, encompassing the eras of seven different United States Presidents, Carson had ruled the airwaves of late-night television on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, setting what his successor Jay Leno called "the Gold Standard" for all who would follow in his footsteps.

He was born John William Carson in Corning, IA on October 23, 1925. When Johnny was eight, his family moved to Norfolk, NE, where he spent the rest of his formative years. At the age of 12, he read a book about doing magic tricks, purchased a mail-order magic kit, and that quickly became an obsession. By the age of 14, he was already performing a magician/comedy routine professionally as "The Great Carsoni", entertaining social groups such as the local Rotary Club. Following a three year stint as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1943-46, Carson returned to Nebraska, attending the University of Nebraska, and graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in 1949. During his time at NU, Carson acquired his first broadcast experience, working for the college radio station. When Omaha television station WOW began broadcasting in 1949, Carson was part of their earliest line-up, hosting an early afternoon talk/skit show, The Squirrel's Nest.

Enjoying the challenges of his earliest forays into television, Carson moved to California in the early 1950s, eventually landing a weekly comic series on CBS, Carson's Cellar. While working on this low-budget show, Carson was able to perfect his monologue and sketch comedy skills, and he was soon noticed by the hot new comic talents of the day, including Fred Allen and Red Skelton. Skelton eventually hired Carson to be a writer on The Red Skelton Show. An on-set accident which incapacitated Skelton provided a break for Johnny, who filled in on the live show and gained even more attention in the industry.

After hosting the quiz show Earn Your Vacation and the short-lived The Johnny Carson Show (a variety show), Carson settled into hosting the ABC daytime show Who Do You Trust? in 1957, where he was teamed up with Ed McMahon (as an announcer) for the first time. During his stint with ABC, Johnny served as the occasional guest-host during Jack Paar's period (1957-62) as host of Tonight!, and when Paar eventually stepped down, Johnny was hired as his full-time replacement. Against NBC's wishes, Carson insisted on McMahon's coming along as his sidekick, and Carson's era on The Tonight Show officially began on October 1, 1962.

During Johnny Carson's 30-year run as host, The Tonight Show went from black and white to color broadcasts, and in 1972 moved from New York City to "beautiful downtown Burbank" in California. Over the course of over 4,500 original episodes, Carson played host to over 22,000 guests, and created such popular on-going sketches (with his Mighty Carson Art Players) as Aunt Blabby, misguided super patriot Floyd R. Turbo, Tea Time Movie with Art Fern, and Carnac the Magnificent. Despite bringing his marital troubles (four wives and three divorces) into his monologues, Carson managed to keep his private life very private.

After 30 years at the helm of The Tonight Show, Carson officially called it quits on May 22, 1992, with weeks of special episodes and special guests culminating in an emotional final episode, in which he signed off with the following comments: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. You people watching, I can only tell you that it's been an honor and a privilege coming into your homes all these years to entertain you. And I hope when I find something I want to do and think you would like, I can come back and (you will be) as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Since that date, Johnny Carson had lived a life out of the public eye. There were a few cameo appearances on other shows, including a 1994 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman that earned him a 73-second standing ovation, but for the most part, Carson wasn't seen. He was busy behind the scenes, though, especially with philanthropic activities. Among the many monetary gifts he passed out were numerous funds for facilities in his former home state of Nebraska -- including: $5.3 million for the renovation of The Temple Building at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, and a substantial investment to support the original construction of The Lied Center on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, where the Johnny Carson Theater is situated. Johnny was also extremely generous with financial gifts to numerous facilities and causes in Norfolk, Nebraska, which continued to hold a special place in his heart. Among his beneficiaries there were the Carson Regional Cancer Center, the local library, an arts center, the Elkhorn Valley Museum (now host to a trove of Carson memorabilia) and the Lifelong Learning Center at Northeast Community College. Johnny Carson is suvived by his fourth wife, Alexis, and sons Christopher and Cory, from his marriage to first wife Joan Wolcott Carson. He was preceded in death by his second son, Richard, who died in an automobile accident in 1991.

The links in this section of this list will take you directly into the items' entries in the catalog of the Lincoln City Libraries, where you can check on the items' availability throughout the library system.

Audio and/or Video Materials

Vertical File/Clippings

The following databases and/or webliographies on the Lincoln City Libraries site can be used to access numerous articles and/or links to additional resources about Johnny Carson on-line. [If you have difficulty using these databases, or need the log-on passwords, please contact the Reference Department at 441-8530 for assistance.]

Additional on-line resources * about Johnny Carson:

"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
Official site of the Johnny Carson years of the "Tonight Show". Features video clips from Johnny's most memorable moments on the show. Also features video ordering information

November 27, 2012 by sdc

posted February 14, 2006

The ancient Olympic games were held to celebrate the Greek Gods every four years between 776 BC. and 393 AD on the plains of Olympia. The games, simple by today's standards, included such sports as running (various distances), long jump, shot put, javelin toss, discus, wrestling, boxing, martial arts and equestrian events. Although women were not allowed to participate in the ancient Olympic Games, a separate event held every four years, the Herean Games, offered women an opportunity to compete with each other. The ancient Olympic games gathered athletes and spectators from throughout the region, including many cities often at war with each other. Even during times of warfare, truces were called during the duration of the games, and all athletes and their families were provided safe passage through disputed territories.

In April, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held. The site was Athens, Greece, to pay tribute to the ancient origins of the Games. Athletes competed in 43 events in 9 sporting categories: aquatics, athletics (track & field), cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. One of the major highlights for these first modern games was the introduction of the 25+ mile Marathon, which was created to honor the legend of Pheidippides, who was said to have carried the news of the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC by running from Marathon to Athens (and then dropping dead). The Greek hosts of the 1896 Games were proud to have Spyridon Louis, a 24-year-old Greek shepherd, win this inaugural event. The first-ever medal won in the modern Olympics went to American James Connolly, who took gold in the triple jump on April 6, 1896. Ultimately, 14 nations had 241 (all-male) athletes compete in 43 separate events that year. Since 1896, the summer Olympic Games have been held every 4 years, with the exceptions of 1940 and 1944 during the waging of World War II. The most recent summer games of Athens 2004 were be the games of the 28th Olympiad.

In 1921, the International Olympic Committee voted to stage “International Sports Week 1924” in Chamonix, France, featuring winter sports. This event was a complete success and was retroactively named the First Olympic Winter Games. The Winter Games (with the same WWII exceptions) have been held every four years since, through 1992. After only a two-year gap, they continued from 1994 onwards every four years. The 1924 Winter Olympics featured 258 athletes (11 women, 247 men), from 16 nations, competing in 16 sports. At the most recent Winter Games (2002) in Salt Lake City, 77 countries were represented by 2,399 athletes (886 women, 1,513 men), who competed in 78 separate events. The 2006 events in Torino, Italy, will be the XXth Olympic Winter Games!

The Lincoln City Libraries has a large collection of materials about the Olympics and the sports that are included in the Olympic games. In addition to the examples shown below, we encourage you to visit our on-line catalog and use a "Subject" search under "Olympic Games -- ____", substituting a year for the ____, to see specific items about many of the specific Olympiads from 1924 to the present. Additionally, we have numerous sports biographies of athletes whose crowning achievements were accomplished during the Olympics.

The links in this section of this list will take you directly into the items' entries in the catalog of the Lincoln City Libraries, where you can check on the items' availability throughout the library system.

ABOUT THE OLYMPICS

The following are a sampling of books in the library's collection dealing with the history of the Winter Olympic games. Click the first two links for larger lists under those respective subject headings.

ABOUT OLYMPIC WINTER SPORTS

The library owns materials about most of the following sports, all of which are contested in the Olympic Winter Games. The date in parentheses following the sport is the year in which that sport first appeared in Winter Olympic competition. If the name of a sport is hotlinked, clicking it will connect you to that subject heading in our on-line catalog. Keep in mind that not all the materials on these varied subjects will be specifically about the Olympic versions of these sports, especially for such popular winter sports as skiing, hockey, skating, etc.

The following databases and/or webliographies on the Lincoln City Libraries site can be used to access numerous articles and/or links to additional resources on-line. [If you have difficulty using these databases, please contact the Reference Department at 441-8530 for assistance.]

November 27, 2012 by sdc

posted September 2, 2004

The ancient Olympic games were held to celebrate the Greek Gods every four years between 776 BC. and 393 AD on the plains of Olympia. The games, simple by today's standards, included such sports as running (various distances), long jump, shot put, javelin toss, discus, wrestling, boxing, martial arts and equestrian events. Although women were not allowed to participate in the ancient Olympic Games, a separate event held every four years, the Herean Games, offered women an opportunity to compete with each other. The ancient Olympic games gathered athletes and spectators from throughout the region, including many cities often at war with each other. Even during times of warfare, truces were called during the duration of the games, and all athletes and their families were provided safe passage through disputed territories.

In April, 1896, the first modern Olympic Games were held. The site was Athens, Greece, to pay tribute to the ancient origins of the Games. Athletes competed in 43 events in 9 sporting categories: aquatics, athletics (track & field), cycling, fencing, gymnastics, shooting, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. One of the major highlights for these first modern games was the introduction of the 25+ mile Marathon, which was created to honor the legend of Pheidippides, who was said to have carried the news of the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC by running from Marathon to Athens (and then dropping dead). The Greek hosts of the 1896 Games were proud to have Spyridon Louis, a 24-year-old Greek shepherd, win this inaugural event. The first-ever medal won in the modern Olympics went to American James Connolly, who took gold in the triple jump on April 6, 1896. Ultimately, 14 nations had 241 (all-male) athletes compete in 43 separate events that year.

Since 1896, the summer Olympic Games have been held every 4 years, with the exceptions of 1940 and 1944 during the waging of World War II. The summer games of Athens 2004 will be the games of the 28th Olympiad. Winter games were added in 1924, and (with the same WWII exceptions) have been held every four years since. At the last summer Olympics (2000 in Sydney, Australia), 199 countries were represented by 10,651 athletes (4,069 women, 6,582 men), who competed in 300 separate events.

The Lincoln City Libraries has a large collection of materials about the Olympics and the sports that are included in the Olympic games. In addition to the examples shown below, we encourage you to visit our on-line catalog and use a "Subject" search under "Olympic Games -- ____", substituting a year for the ____, to see specific items about many of the specific Olympiads from 1924 to the present. Additionally, we have numerous sports biographies of athletes whose crowning achievements were accomplished during the Olympics.

The links in this section of this list will take you directly into the items' entries in the catalog of the Lincoln City Libraries, where you can check on the items' availability throughout the library system.

ABOUT THE OLYMPICS

The following are a sampling of books in the library's collection dealing with the history of the modern Olympic games. Click the first three links for larger lists under those respective subject headings.

ABOUT OLYMPIC SPORTS

The library owns materials about most of the following sports, all of which are contested in the Olympic Games. The date in parentheses following the sport is the year in which that sport first appeared in Olympic competition. If the name of a sport is hotlinked, clicking it will connect you to that subject heading in our on-line catalog. Keep in mind that not all the materials on these varied subjects will be specifically about the Olympic versions of these sports, especially for such popular sports as baseball, basketball, tennis, etc.

The following databases and/or webliographies on the Lincoln City Libraries site can be used to access numerous articles and/or links to additional resources on-line. [If you have difficulty using these databases, please contact the Reference Department at 441-8530 for assistance.]

November 27, 2012 by sdc

posted January 25, 2005

Generations of American television viewers were caught by surprise on Sunday, January 23, 2005, to learn that Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night" had passed away at his home in Malibu, California. The cause of death was emphysema. For three decades, encompassing the eras of seven different United States Presidents, Carson had ruled the airwaves of late-night television on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, setting what his successor Jay Leno called "the Gold Standard" for all who would follow in his footsteps.

Born John William Carson in Corning, IA on October 23, 1925, Johnny's family moved to Norfolk, NE, where he spent his formative years. At the age of 12, he read a book about doing magic tricks, and that quickly became an obsession. By the age of 14, he was already performing a magician/comedy routine professionally as "The Great Carsoni", entertaining social groups such as the local Rotary Club. Following a three year stint as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 1943-46, Carson returned to Nebraska, attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in 1949. During his time at UN-L, Carson acquired his first broadcast experience, working for the college radio station. When Omaha television station WOW began broadcasting in 1949, Carson was part of their earliest line-up, hosting an early afternoon talk/skit show The Squirrel's Nest.

Enjoying the challenges of his earliest forays into television, Carson moved to California in the early 1950s, eventually landing a weekly comic series on CBS, Carson's Cellar. While working on this low-budget show, Carson was able to perfect his monologue and sketch comedy skills, and he was soon noticed by the hot new comic talents of the day, including Fred Allen and Red Skelton. Skelton eventually hired Carson to be a writer on The Red Skelton Show. An on-set accident which incapacitated Skelton provided a break for Johnny, who filled in on the line show and gained even greater notoriety.

After hosting the quiz show Earn Your Vacation and the short-lived The Johnny Carson Show (a variety show), Carson settled into hosting the ABC daytime show Who Do You Trust? in 1957, where he was teamed up with Ed McMahon for the first time. During his stint with ABC, Johnny served as the occasionally guest-host during Jack Paar's stint as host of The Tonight Show, and when Paar eventually stepped down, Johnny was hired as his full-time replacement. Against NBC's wishes, Carson insisted on McMahon's coming along as his sidekick, and Carson's era on The Tonight Show officially began on October 1, 1962.

During Johnny Carson's 30-year stint as host, The Tonight Show went from black and white to color broadcasts, and in 1972 moved from New York to "beautiful downtown Burbank" in California. Over the course of over 4,500 episodes, Carson played hosts to over 22,000 guests, and created such popular on-going sketches (with his Mighty Carson Art Players) as Aunt Biddy, misguided super patriot Floyd R. Turbo, Art Fern, and Carnac the Magnificent. Despite bringing his marital troubles (four wives and three divorces) into his monologues, Carson managed to keep his private life very private.

After 30 years at the helm of The Tonight Show, Carson officially called it quits on May 22, 1992, with weeks of special episodes and special guests culminating in an emotional final episode in which he signed off with the following comments: "And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. You people watching, I can only tell you that it's been an honor and a privilege coming into your homes all these years to entertain you. And I hope when I find something I want to do and think you would like, I can come back and (you will be) as gracious in inviting me into your homes as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night."

Since that date, Johnny Carson had lived a life out of the public eye. There were a few cameo appearances on other shows, including a 1994 appearance on Late Night With David Letterman that earned him a 73-second standing ovation, but for the most part, Carson wasn't seen. He was busy behind the scenes, though, especially with philanthropic activities. Among the many monetary gifts he passed out where numerous funds for facilities in his former home state of Nebraska -- including: The Lied Center at the University of Nebraska, where the Johnny Carson Theater is situated; funds for the refurbishing of The Temple Building, and many organizations and causes in Norfolk, Nebraska.

The links in this section of this list will take you directly into the items' entries in the catalog of the Lincoln City Libraries, where you can check on the items' availability throughout the library system.

Vertical File/Clippings

-- clipping file may be viewed in the Periodicals Room of the downtown library

The following databases and/or webliographies on the Lincoln City Libraries site can be used to access numerous articles and/or links to additional resources about Johnny Carson on-line. [If you have difficulty using these databases, or need the log-on passwords, please contact the Reference Department at 441-8530 for assistance.]

Additional on-line resources * about Johnny Carson:

"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"
Official site of the Johnny Carson years of the "Tonight Show". Features video clips from Johnny's most memorable moments on the show. Also features video ordering information